


Waiter

by Twilighthawke



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, i am always tethraghast trash, tethraghast - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 13:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5049571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilighthawke/pseuds/Twilighthawke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>tumblr prompt: You’re my waiter and I’m on a really crappy date with an asshole</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiter

Cassandra looked past her date's shoulder and tried to look interested in what he had to say. It was hard because he was going on and on about the class he was teaching.

They had been matched on the dating website because they both liked books. Cassandra had been hopeful. Now she was regretful. As it turned out, he liked so-called 'intellectual' books. Which meant people read them to prove how smart they are. As opposed to why Cassandra read books, to escape into another world for a little while. It had been half an hour and Cassandra had hardly got a word in edgewise.

Over her date's shoulder, crossing into her line of vision, appeared a short, broad shouldered man with his hair caught up in a loose ponytail. It took her a moment to register him as their waiter. He was looking at her.

She raised one eyebrow, unsure of what his stare meant. Slowly, a wry smile spread over the waiter's lips. It was such an honest expression, she found herself wanting to smile back. She resisted, because it might encourage her date to further heights of loquacity.

"...don't you think so too?" Her date asked her opinion, what a stunning turn of events. Too bad she hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention to him.

She blinked and cleared her throat, her mind racing to try to remember what he had been talking about.

"I--" she began, but was cut off by the waiter appearing at her elbow.

"You folks doing alright?" he asked, refilling their wine glasses. Cassandra's was considerably more diminished due to her date speaking so much.

"Yes, quite, thank you." Cassandra's date gave the waiter a slightly annoyed look. Whether it was his slangy language, or the fact that he had interrupted Cassandra, she didn't know. The look bounced right off of the waiter's shit-eating grin.

The waiter--'Varric', if his name tag was to be believed-- winked at Cassandra before he moved off to another table. It was barely a wink at all, hardly an eye flicker, but Cassandra knew it was a wink by the slight flutter of her heart in response.

"What was it you were saying?" Cassandra dragged her eyes away from Varric and looked back at her date. She was glad of the interruption, for it made her date remind her of the topic....although 'glad' might have been too strong a word for it. For once she managed to cobble together a reasonable answer. Then off he went again on an even longer-winded one-sided conversation.

Cassandra looked at the rose in the center of the table between them. It reminded her of the book in the table by her bed in her apartment, waiting for her to get this date over with so she could get back to it. She found herself thinking about the heroine of that story, and what SHE would do on a date like this. Probably walk out. Frankly, Cassandra was considering doing just that when the food arrived. Her date paused in his pontificating long enough to cast an eye over their dinner.

He had ordered some kind of soup, while Cassandra had asked for the duck. Her date largely ignored his dinner to continue his speech about youth in this age, a topic that interested Cassandra not one bit.

When he finally reached the end of his thesis, he sipped a spoonful of soup. He made a face and dropped his spoon.

"Waiter," he called out.

"Yeah?" Varric appeared at his shoulder.

"This soup is cold," he said with a sniff.

"It’s gazpacho," Varric replied. "Although I'm sure if you stopped boring the model you're dining with, I'm sure you would have noticed it sooner."

Cassandra furrowed her brow. 'Model'?

Cassandra's date went a little red in the face.

"I didn't ask for a commentary," he sputtered. "Give me a new bowl and I would like to speak to your manager."

"Both of those things will not make you any less boring," Varric said smoothly. Cassandra had to cover her mouth to hide her smile. Her date was really in a state now.

"Get. Me. Your. Manager." He ground out through his teeth, leaning closer to Varric

"I. Am. The. Manager." Varric replied in the same clipped syllables as he leaned to meet the bigger man halfway across the table. "And gazpacho soup is served cold, you idiot."

Cassandra's date stood suddenly, rattling the cutlery on the table as he did.

"We are leaving," he barked at Cassandra, laying one hand on her arm as he did so.

No one touched Cassandra without her permission. She grabbed the man by the middle finger and pulled back, hard. There was a pop, like the sound of a champagne bottle being opened.

The man yelped in pain and jerked back, clutching his hand.

"Two things," Cassandra said. "Don't touch me. And get out," Cassandra told him, coldly. He fled like a bat out of hell.

Varric was near doubled over with laughter. Cassandra didn't see what was so hilarious to him. Now she would have to pick up the bill.

"Did you hear the pop when you broke the little shit's finger?" Varric wheezed and Cassandra felt the corners of her mouth trying to twitch into a smile. She refused to be charmed.

"Are you really the manager?" Cassandra asked, skeptically.

"Nah, I just work here part time," Varric confessed, sitting himself in the recently vacated chair. "But did you see the look on his face?"

"You're terrible," Cassandra scoffed. Varric shook his head.

"No, I'm Varric Tethras," he offered her his hand across the table. "Nice to meet you."

He winked and Cassandra found herself blushing again, even as she took the proffered hand. He let go only to pluck the rose from the center display and offer it to her.

She took it, reminded of the hero in her book at home.

"Now," Varric said, standing from the table. "Why don’t we get out of here. I'll take you for some REAL food, and we can talk about how you got mixed up with a guy like that."

Cassandra was charmed in spite of herself. She stood with him.

"Yes, let’s."

**Author's Note:**

> hey look at me, two fics in one month. sorta to celebrate 300 followers on tumblr, sorta to post literally anything to break my writers block.  
> ALSO: i know EVERYONE knows what gazpacho soup is, but its the only thing i could think of. (as a point of interest, i was watching Red Dwarf when I learned that gazpacho soup is served cold)


End file.
